Isaac.

ABRAHAM AND ISAAC.

A DRAMATIC SKETCH.

FATHER, I faint!

The way grows weary up the gloomy mount,

And my limbs tremble 'neath their burden! Would,
Beside the clear palm-shaded stream, that winds
Through our own flowery plain of Mamre, we
Had tarried. Dost remember, father, when
Thou late, o'erborne with heat and weariness
By heavy toilings in our vineyards wrought,
Didst turn thee to that stream and cast thee down
Beneath its cooling shades, and stretched thy limbs
And bared thy sweaty brow to woo the breeze,
Laden with perfume, from the bloomy fields
And leafy thickets borne-how thou didst sigh
For very pleasure at the grateful sense
Of such enjoyment, and didst say, no spot
That God hath made was ever half so fair?
Dost thou remember, father?

Abraham.

Ay! my son!

And how thy young hands plucked the cooling leaves

To fan my heated brow; and shaped the cup,

And brought me, from the softly gurgling wave,
A cooling draught, to slake the feverish thirst

By sun and toil engendered, and to lave

My hot and dusty brow. - My gentle boy!
My meek-souled Isaac! child of my old age!
I do remember this!

Isaac.

Ah! father! home,

Then! home, to that dear plain let us return!
What need this dreary mountain, where the gloom
Of death surrounds our path, to climb? Ah, home,
To where the pleasant voice of our own stream
So sweetly calls us back, dear father let
Us haste!

Abraham. Have patience yet awhile, my boy!
The great, good Elohim - the God who saved
Our fathers from the flood, and brought them forth,
On the fair plains of Canaan to build

Their tabernacles, bade me hither come,
Upon Moriah's fearful mount to rear

An altar; there to offer up to him

A sacrifice a lamb. a cherished lamb !

-I have obeyed! Great God!

Thy servant hath obeyed!

Thy rest will soon be won!

Isaac.

Bear up, my boy –

My rest, saidst thou,

Dear father? - Yes, I see the mountain-top

Looming above me in the murky sky;

We soon shall reach it! - See, dear father, see
I bear the wood, unflinching, to the goal

And pile the altar. Will the Elohim,